Rig owner's CEO testifies at Gulf oil spill trial

Tuesday

Mar 19, 2013 at 9:35 AM

The chief executive of the company that owned the drilling rig that exploded in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010 says its employees "should have done more" to avert the disaster that killed 11 workers and caused the nation's worst offshore oil spill.

The Associated Press

NEW ORLEANS — The chief executive of the company that owned the drilling rig that exploded in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010 says its employees "should have done more" to avert the disaster that killed 11 workers and caused the nation's worst offshore oil spill.

Transocean president and CEO Steven Newman testified Tuesday on the 14th day of a trial designed to determine the causes of BP's well blowout and to assign fault to the companies involved.

Newman said Transocean agreed to plead guilty to a misdemeanor charge of violating the Clean Water Act because its employees on the Deepwater Horizon played a role in botching a crucial safety test before the blowout of BP's Macondo well.

But Newman said BP ultimately was responsible for determining whether the test was successful.